


Time After Time: Ten

by ThirteenRedVampireBites



Series: Times of Life [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hellenistic Religion & Lore, Neo-Pagan Scripture & Lore
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Apocalypse Fix-it, Child Draco Malfoy, Child Harry Potter, Dead Vernon Dursley, F/F, F/M, In the Veil, M/M, Magical Artifacts, Multi, Multiples 'Verse, Nice Dudley Dursley, Nice Petunia Dursley, Past James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Past Relationship(s), Post-Hogwarts, Post-War, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-05-30 20:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15103934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirteenRedVampireBites/pseuds/ThirteenRedVampireBites
Summary: Magic is dying.It's that simple, Magic is dying.With no other choice, Harry and Draco step into the Veil, and what is revealed will change everything.





	1. ONE

**Author's Note:**

> Here are the first three chapters of TAT:10! 
> 
> This was supposed to come out last Thursday, but my grandmother had a CT scan and I ended up distracted while waiting for the news. She had her surgery on Wednesday morning. Then I was going to post this yesterday, but I got caught up trying to get some tests finished for a job in transcribing that I've been looking at, except I kept closing it by accident... But yeah, here they are. 
> 
> Those of you who've read TAT:7 will recognize the first two chapters, but the third is the true beginning of the story. 
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!
> 
> ~Kate-Lee

They’d been talking about and making this plan for three months. The remaining Unspeakables, Aurors, Wizengamot members, Medicals and Magicals from all walks of life had spent the last three months talking and arguing about what they were going to do, and finally, last week they’d finished their discussions and come to a decision.

Magic had started dying out in full a decade ago, after almost a century of being abused by its users. First, it began by the number of Squibs rising and Muggleborns dropping. Then the Magical Creatures and Races – Veela and the like – began reporting decreasing birth rates. And before anyone realized, the Magic in the world had been disappearing from everything else.

The loss of Magic was first noticeable in new objects or those that didn’t store Magic on their own – so most enchanted objects and new Ward schematics which hadn’t had the time to gain any external power. They began to stop working and failing until eventually they just ceased functioning and couldn’t be replaced.

Magicals with weaker Cores began to get sick shortly after – fever, chills, refusal of sustenance until eventually they just wasted away – and then they began dropping like flies. At first, Healers had thought that it was a new strain of Dragon Pox or some new disease from the Tropics – the last hosts of the Quidditch World Cup – but eventually that changed once they started doing more rigorous testing on those who held onto life. Concurrently, Wards put up within the past forty years began to fail – layer by layer disappearing until nothing remained.

Light Magicals went next – getting the same sickness and dying the same way as those who’d passed before them. Unfortunately, a good portion of the Weasley family had been part of the first wave of those ill and Percy had been the first to pass away. At the same time that Light Magicals were dying, the remaining Wards put up within the last one hundred years began to fail, going out layer by layer again but in a shorter amount of time.

When these talks had started, Dark Magicals were just beginning to lose their magic – the Crabbe and Goyle families being the first to fall – and at the same time Heavy Wards began to drain.

Now, with only few Magicals left – mostly Magicals with a Gray affinity or a Strong Core – and only the Ancient Wards around Hogwarts, the Ministry, and Gringotts remaining, they have to put their last resort plan into action.

 

“‘Mione, ‘Mione. We’ll be fine. Draco and I have been planning for this for months. We are as prepared as we can be,” Harry patted Hermione’s hand lightly as he settled back down next to her hospital bed from where he’d gotten up to get her some water.

Hermione coughed and took a sip from the glass before she spoke, “If you two are sure…”

“We’re sure. Bill, Charlie, Georgie, and Susan are coming to see us off.” He raised his wrist to check his watch. “And I really have to be going, it’s almost time.” He stood from his seat, pressed a light kiss to the top of her head, and exited the room.

He took his time to walk down to the Ministry, taking in everything around him. This may be the last time he’d ever see the buildings or trees or even the few people he recognized as he walked past them again.

He stepped in through the Unspeakable entrance, pressing his thumb to the new scanner before waiting for the lift to go down. As it counted down the floors he thought back on the past.

After defeating Voldemort, he’d returned to school and spent the next year catching up so that he could sit for his N.E.W.T. tests. He’d had to stuff almost two years of learning into one and it had only been with the help of both Hermione and Draco that he’d passed all his N.E.W.T.s.

Upon graduating, he and Ginny had married – though only for the convenience and to get Mrs. Weasley to stop hinting and harping at them – and he had joined the Unspeakables at Director Drakona’s insistence with Draco at his side as his partner. From there, he’d spent the first decade of his time researching many things – the Wards around his relatives’ home, time-turners and how they work, Patroni and their effects on Dementors with a look at how Dementors do what they do, and Magical genetics. Once that first decade had been completed, he and Draco had been given the task of studying the Veil, and it was almost a decade before they figured out that the Veil was a doorway to the Spirit World and that at one point in time, there had been one in each continent.

Now, they have no choice and he and Draco were about to embark through the Veil. They needed to see if there was some way of changing things, of fixing things. And this was the best idea.

The bell of the lift dinged and the doors opened. He stepped out and headed to the door he knew would take him to the Veil room. He threw it open and stepped inside.

The small group that waited for him surprised him some as he hadn’t expected a few of them. Waiting for him in front of the Veil were five redheads, three blonds, three brunettes, two ravens, and one person whose hair couldn’t decide on its color. William ‘Bill’ Weasley, Charles ‘Charlie’ Weasley, George Weasley, Ginevra ‘Ginny’ Potter-Weasley, and Susanna ‘Susan’ Bones-Corner were the redheads. Draconis ‘Draco’ Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy – Draco and Astoria’s son, and Lunetta ‘Luna’ Lovegood were the blonds. Daphne Greengrass, Astoria Greengrass-Malfoy and Neville Longbottom were the brunets. Of the ravens were Dean Thomas, and Albus Potter – his and Ginny’s seventeen-year-old son. And the last was Harry’s godson Teddy Lupin-Black, whose hair kept cycling through the color spectrum as he shifted from foot to foot.

Ginny stepped up to his side and wrapped her arms around him in a hug before she pulled back to look at both Harry and Draco, “Are you two still sure about this?”

“Yes, Gin. We’ve no other choices. We are the last of Britain’s Wizarding population, unless you want to count the dozen or so people wasting away in Mundane hospitals,” Harry remarked as he settled his arms around her, Teddy, and Albus.

He hugged the three of them to his chest, breathing them in quietly before he pulled away. He cupped their faces, staring into their eyes for a long moment before he pressed a kiss to their foreheads and whispered, “I love you,” against their skin.

They soon moved away and he moved to say good-bye to the others who’d come to see them off. Bill and Charlie simply gave him a quick hug and told him how lucky they were to have met him. George wrapped him tightly in his arms and whispered quietly into his ear, “Freddie would have been so proud of you, little brother.” Harry could only make a soft noise before he pulled away to wipe at his eyes.

Luna and Neville came over next. They each wrapped their arms around his shoulders and he wrapped his arms around their waists. Harry pressed a kiss to Luna’s forehead and whispered quietly so that only she and Neville could hear, “I’m sorry.”

Luna hummed softly in response before she spoke, “I know.”

Luna had the unfortunate fate of being a Bound Seer, which meant that she would continue to live until _all_ Magic was gone. Leaving her as the last of the Magicals unless something else killed her before Magic disappeared.

Harry pulled away from the two of them, and quickly greeted the remaining members of the group: pressing light kisses to the cheeks of Astoria, Daphne, and Susan; hugging Scorpius lightly while quietly warning him against hurting his son who the blond was dating; and finally, clasping arms with Dean who was beginning to get ill and was leaning heavily on a pair of crutches.

With everyone now addressed, Draco and Harry began to ready themselves. They removed their robes, their practically powerless wands, their D.O.M. ID cards, and the few remaining magical items that were still working that were on their person. With everything set down and away from them, they stepped up to the Veil.

“Together? Or would you like to go first?” Harry questioned as they stopped before it.

“Might as well go together,” Draco replied, looking quizzically at the shimmering silver cloth before them. Harry nodded and they took a step closer to the old cloth.

They each turned back to share one last look with their loved ones before simultaneously they took a deep breath and took the plunge with eyes closed, stepping up and through the cloth, leaving behind the world.


	2. TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!
> 
> ~Kate-Lee

“Ah, Hartikylus Jamison and Drakonias Lucius, right on time. Come this way, your meeting is about to start,” A chipper voice chirped as they opened their eyes. A young woman with ageless features and carefully curled blonde hair stood before them in a simple white dress with a clipboard in her hands.

“Who are–” Harry stopped at hearing his own voice. He sounded like he was eighteen again! He turned to look at Draco and squeaked in shock at seeing his friend back in the body of his eighteen-year-old self.

“Who am I? My apologies, Christina Marie, Greeter of the Spirit Realm Doors.” She clicked her heels together, bare feet making a soft sound on the tile floor. “And before you ask, you were reset to a time when your magics were most powerful and still pure. Pure being unattached to anyone new, so before you had children or were married. Now. I’m to take you to see your Reapers and the Bosses, they’ve been waiting for you.”

She turned and began walking away, leaving the two teens to look at each other for a quick moment before following after her. She wandered through white halls until she came to a seemingly random silver door. Everything looked the same here. She knocked lightly before opening the door and motioning the two inside.

“Hartikylus and Drakonias are here to see you,” Christina announced before closing the door, leaving the two teens standing before a group of nine women and four men.

“Nice to see you again, Hartikylus.” The speaker was a raven-haired man with ageless features. He and everyone else sitting at the table were dressed all in white, the same as everyone they’d passed by in the halls as well as themselves. The women were in plain sundresses while the men wore long sleeved v-necks and simple pants with no shoes.

“Again?” Harry questioned, tilting his head to the side as he sat down in the left chair in front of the long table.

“Mm, this will be the seventh time we’ve met. But only the third you’ll remember, even if the other two are vague.”

“Seven!”

“Twice before Hogwarts, once during the Chamber incident, once during the Horcrux Hunt, the time during the final battle, and the final was while you were researching Dementors.” The man had been rifling through papers as he spoke and he raised his head from studying them to look at Harry, “Seeing as this will be one you remember in full, I will introduce myself again. I am Rorin Marcus, and I have the unfortunate circumstance to be assigned as your Reaper.”

“Drakonias, we have met only once before when you were a very young child and had gotten sick. I am Jennifer Morgan, and I am _your_ Reaper,” The all-around golden woman sitting next to Rorin explained. “I will introduce the rest. The three ladies at the end on the left are the Fates; the blonde is Cleo, the brunette is Lina, and the final with silver hair is Ariana. The three at the end on the right are the Times; the redhead on the very end is Aenor, the raven-haired man is Berwyn, and the raven-haired woman next to him is Aikaterine. Between myself and the fates are the embodiments of Death and Chaos respectively; the first is Merikh and the second is Seth. Next to the Times, sit Ladies Luck, Magic, and Life; now known as Tylana, Hecate, and Honey respectively.”

“Merry met,” Both teens greeted, folding their hands on the table and dipping their heads shallowly to the Deities before them, as was custom when meeting someone of higher ranking – of which there were few for Harry.

“Now, as to why we’re here,” Rorin started, shuffling through the pages of his clipboard. “To put it simply, your world is dead. Magic is an integral part of the world living and functioning, but due to the actions of Albus Dumbledore, Lord Voldemort, and the Ministry for Magic–”

“For Magic?” Harry questioned.

“Ah, that’s right, Cuthbert Richard left much to be desired as a History professor after his death. Let me explain.” Rorin shook his head in amusement before continuing, “The last Magical born into the Windsor family before Princess Charlotte and her cousins Isla, Mia, and Severn was Queen Victoria. However, Queen Anne and her cousin who later became King George I, were the ones to set up the Ministerial Offices as they were the last with magic before her. Queen Anne started the Ministries by appointing advisors for those issues. King George is the one who created the Ministries to take the workload off the shoulders of the Royal Advisors. At the time, they were all labelled Ministries _for_ whatever. However, after the death of Queen Victoria and the apparent magiclessness of the remaining members of the family, the then Minister changed the titles to Minister and Ministry _of_ Magic and cut them off from the mundane world.”

“How did they kill Magic? Or at least, I’m presuming they are the ones that killed Magic,” Draco asked, leaning forward eagerly as he waited for the answer. Both, he and Harry, had spent the last five years trying to figure out where they’d all gone wrong enough to _kill_ Magic.

“It began with the Classifying of Magic by the Ministry. By Classifying and the later banning of Magical Branches, Magic began to die because to be maintained, there must be balance. Some Branches makes sense to limit, like necromancy or the Blackest Arts. However, _all_ Magic must be practiced for there to _be_ Magic,” Hecate picked up, her fists clenched on the table in front of her. She was the personification and Giver of Magic, and so she was weakened with Magic’s Death. “Both Dumbledore and Voldemort continued this by killing off and forcing certain Magic Branches on those around them. Dumbledore did so by making sure that only ‘Light’ Magic was taught at Hogwarts and through meddling where he shouldn’t have. Voldemort did so by killing off prominent families and new blood, and by fracturing the Magical Cores of his followers by holding them under Torture Curses.”

“Is there anything we can do about it?” Harry bit his lip as he too leaned forward.

“Your world is finished, but we could send you to similar one to try and fix it,” Aenor told them, looking through the clipboard in front of the Times. “There are three were you might make a difference. The first is currently running in nineteen-ninety-five; the second is running in nineteen-ninety; and the final is running in nineteen-eighty-seven.”

“What differences could we make in each of those?” Draco asked, his analytical mind racing as he tried to figure it out on his own.

“You would remember everything of the previous timeline with a few updates and notices, first off. But to answer your question,” Berwyn started, folding his hands over the clipboard. “The first world, where Hartikylus is still only fourteen, continues to fall directly with your timeline. The only difference being that Remus Johnathon was in touch with Hartikylus from the time that he was old enough to read. The changing point will be after the third task, the ritual – which Peter Andrew botched the first time – can be used to bring Thomas Marvolo back to rights. Thomas Marvolo is a key part of righting Magic back to balance in all worlds.

“The second, where Drakonias has just turned ten, is similar enough, the difference being that Vernon William died in nineteen-eighty-five of a heart attack. You can do whatever you need there.

“The final world, event wise nothing has changed. Nothing at all, but there, in a world where you both are only seven and everything else is different, you can get anything and everything done.”

“What do you think, Draco?” Harry asked, already knowing which he wanted to step into.

“As children, we don’t have much control or power… But, going back that far gives us so much more time to plan and get things set up…” Draco replied, talking mostly to himself. “But what would we have to do and how would we have to do it to fix everything? And there’s the question of what makes this world so much different than the one we just left?”

“That would be where we come in,” Jennifer told them, looking through the clipboard in front of her. “We have all those answers and more. Many, many more.”

With those words, the two teenagers settled in to get their answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #  [Personal Tumblr](http://thirteenredvampirebites.tumblr.com) / [Writing Tumblr](http://crimsonswolfden.tumblr.com/) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Nightworldlove) / [My Writing Blog](https://kate-lee-shadows.blogspot.ca/) / Email: thirteenredangels@hotmail.com  
> 


	3. THREE

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up in 1991.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The real beginning of the story!  
> ~Kate-Lee

A knock at the door woke Hartikylus from his sleep. Muzzily he opened his eyes to stare at the door from his place on his bed. It opened slightly, letting in another crack of light from the hall and the smell of bacon from breakfast being cooked.

“Harrison, time to get up.”

He blinked sluggishly, before sleepily nodding and with within a yawn, murmuring, “Yes, Aunt Petunia.” Dropping his legs to the floor, he rolled himself up into a sit with the light blanket wrapped around his shoulders. The door closed just as he got to his feet, dropping the blanket back to the bed, and walked over to the wardrobe.

He changed quickly, pulling his pajamas off and throwing them over the door as he replaced the thin blue cotton trousers with a pair of faded and slightly torn denims, and the matching short-sleeved top with another darker blue short-sleeve. With a pair of white socks pulled on and a black sweatshirt with a kangaroo pocket grabbed, Hartikylus was ready for the day, so he glanced at the calendar next to the door – July 1st, 1990 – and then exited his room and headed down the hall to the stairs.

“Harrison, get the post please!” Petunia called from the kitchen, just as his foot touched the final step.

“Yes, Aunt Petunia!”

He hopped down from the last step and took the six steps it would take to get to the door. On the floor below the postage slot, were three envelopes. He picked them up, shuffling through them and muttering to himself, “Bill. Ad. Bill. Boring,” as he walked down the main hall and to the kitchen.

Dudley was already seated at the kitchen table when he came into the room. The larger boy – though much less large than he was before Vernon died – was reading a comic as he waited for breakfast to be ready. Hartikylus set the envelopes down onto the table next to Petunia’s plate, settling himself down in his own seat.

Petunia came over, a skillet in her hand. She carefully portioned out the scrambled eggs before moving to the sink and setting the skillet inside. When she returned it was with several plates of toast, bacon, fruit slices, and muffins. She set them down before going to the fridge for drinks. When she finally sat down, it was with a pitcher of juice, and a jug of milk in her hands.

The two boys, having already portioned out the rest of the food as they wished, watched her for a moment as she grabbed her own portion before they began to eat their breakfast.

Quiet conversation passed over breakfast, but once they were finished, the boys knew what to do. They dumped their dishes into the sink before going to the table in the hall, next to the door where a little seven-day calendar was set out. On the calendar, the boys’ daily chores, simple things and only two or three at most.

Hartikylus hummed quietly as he studied the day’s chores – watering and weeding the garden, collecting the produce from the vegetable plants, and painting the fence for himself; mowing the lawn, painting the shed doors, and washing Petunia’s car for Dudley – while knowing that his Aunt would be spending much of her day inside doing housework.

He was often glad that the house had been paid off by his grandparents’ will, otherwise he knew that they would have had to move somewhere smaller with the death of his uncle. Thankfully that hadn’t happened, and the three remaining members of the family had stayed on Privet Drive.

After Vernon died, so much had changed. It was like a screen had been removed from the house when he died. Petunia had moved him from the cupboard under the stairs to the smaller of the guestrooms, cleaning out all the broken and unwanted toys out and either donating or trashing them. Chores had been made appropriate to their ages – Petunia taking over the majority of the household chores, and Dudley and Hartikylus taking the outside chores and _some_ of the inside chores (cleaning their rooms, etc.).

Petunia had even returned to doing things that Vernon had forbidden, like writing – Petunia’s first book had been published a year and a half after his death, and she’d written two more in the time since then, and she was currently working on her fourth book – and the pants, let’s not forget the pants either. She seemed more relaxed as well, settling in a way that to the boys made it seem like something – other than just Vernon – had disconnected her from herself.

Physically they’d all changed as well. Petunia looked better; she looked younger with her hair getting more voluminous and her skin smoothing out. You’d never know that she was thirty-nine, she looked like she was ten years younger. Dudley looked like a human, not a pig in a bonnet; he’d been put on a mandatory diet by the doctor he’d seen after Vernon’s death, and he’d joined a rugby club after they started school. Hartikylus looked healthy; regular meals, less work, and better sleep had evened out his figure, adding weight to his limbs and meat to his torso.

Hartikylus hummed quietly as he looked out the window to check the weather. It was sunny, but with some cloud coverage to keep it cooler. That would make watering the plants easier as he wouldn’t have to do it twice.

He pulled open the mudroom closet, digging through it to look for his shoes. He tugged on the older, dirt scuffed shoes before heading outside.

He rounded the house, pushing open the side gate and leaving it open so he could pull the hose around to water the roses out front. The hose was still carefully coiled where he’d left it, so all he had to do was turn it on and go. He hummed softly as he began tugging the hose around the back to water the garden.

He’s just beginning to water the tomato plants when he heard a soft hissing sound.

_§Foolish human! Should bite. Should bite!§_

He blinked, spinning around to search for the sound.

_§Hello? Scaled One? I did not mean to get so close.§_

_§Speaker! Oh a speaker!§_

The hedges next to the fence shivered and a small black snake slithered out of the darkness. It curled itself up until it could push itself into the air, tiny pink tongue flickering out to taste the air.

_§O~h, a magical speaker! Even better.§_

_§Even better for what? Also, what species are you? And do you have a name?§_

_§I’m a mix! Barred grass snake and adder! No name. Too young for that before the cages opened. And to bond silly! I’m a magical snake, and I need a magical Bonder.§_

_§This is unexpected.§_ Hartikylus murmured, setting the hose down as he came to sit before the snake. _§I will take you then. What gender are you? So that I may give you an appropriate name.§_

_§I am a female. Bond too?§_

_§Bond–§_

“Harrison!” He jerked upon hearing his Aunt’s voice and turned to see her standing at the back door, panic on her face. “Bring that inside,” She croaked when his attention was on her. “We need to talk.”

Hartikylus frowned, confused. “Alright, Aunt Petunia.” He held his arm out to the snake, watching as she curled around his forearm and climbed to his shoulder. She wasn’t very long, maybe only two feet, so she hung around his neck like a necklace. He got back to his feet, heading up to the door and to her side.

Petunia stepped back inside, pulling the door closed behind both of them once he was inside.

“Sit down, we have something to discuss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #  [Personal Tumblr](http://thirteenredvampirebites.tumblr.com) / [Writing Tumblr](http://crimsonswolfden.tumblr.com/) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Nightworldlove) / [My Writing Blog](https://kate-lee-shadows.blogspot.ca/) / Email: thirteenredangels@hotmail.com  
> 


	4. Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Petunia has a discussion with the boys and decisions are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 10 of my Yule gifts!
> 
> I'm done with classes until January so I'm going to try my hardest to get things written out so I can post more often again. It might not happen, I have two regular classes and then two big self-work classes next term so we'll see.
> 
> Thanks to the Tumblr staff in their infinite wisdom (note the sarcasm), you may not be able to see either of my tumblrs, so I'm going to try making sure that any announcements are made on my external blog or twitter. I've been debating moving elsewhere as well, and I'll let you all know if I do.
> 
> Well, I did a dumb. I went and changed my birthday on Twitter... which put me below the age of 13 (which I was when I made it... so I guess it makes sense) which then got my account locked. I have sent in a help ticket stating that I am now over the age of 13, so I should be getting it back, but it may not be until after the holidays, just to let you know.
> 
> ~Kate-Lee

“Dudley!” Petunia called up the stairs. “Come down here please!” She stood at the counter, getting tea started. Water into the kettle and the kettle back onto its base, she took a minute to breath before pushing the button down for boiling.

“Coming, Mum!” Dudley called in return and both Petunia and Hartikylus could hear the doors of his wardrobe open and close before the sounds of him coming down the hall and then down the stairs. His hand appeared around the bannister over the hallway once he was far enough down and Petunia smiled to herself as she crossed the kitchen to get three mugs from the cupboard.

“Mum?” Dudley questioned, stood in the doorway and warily watching Hartikylus as he played with the snake. “Why does Harry have a snake?”

“That’s part of the reason you’re down here, Duds,” Petunia answered crossing back to the kettle. “We’ll talk once the tea is ready. Sit down. I’m sure that Harrison has the snake under control.” She gave the raven-haired child a pointed look.

“She’s fine, Aunt Petunia,” Hartikylus replied. “Nyx will stay settled.”

“Does she need something to eat?” Petunia asked quietly as she waited for the water to finish boiling.

“If we have something?” Hartikylus asked looking up at her.

“We have some chicken left over from last night. I’ll get it out,” She told him, watching the kettle as the button popped signalling that it was done. She set teabags into the bottom of the mugs before pouring the steaming water over top. She brought two of the cups over, setting them in front of the two boys. She returned to the counter to get her cup, stopping at the fridge to get the chicken from the previous night. She set the plate down before Hartikylus, watching as he began pulling the chicken apart for his new companion.

“What did you want to talk about, Aunt Petunia?”

Petunia stared into her tea for a moment before pulling the teabag out and reaching for the sugar. She wasn’t sure where to start. There was so much to tell.

“We don’t talk much about your mother, Harrison. Or your father for that matter. And there was a reason for that.” She put two cubes into her tea before reaching for the cream. “There was never really a way to bring it up, and I had no idea where to start.” She stirred her tea. “When I was eleven, your mother met a boy. Severus Snape lived on the other side of the park from us, the lower-class side of the neighborhood with his mother and father.

“Lily’s favourite habit when we were children was to jump off the swings. That summer’s day she jumped off like normal, but too high. I absolutely expected her to crash, but instead she floated to the ground, like Glinda in the Wizard of Oz with her hair and skirt floating around like there was a wind under her.

“She’d done similar things before. Coming home with flowers that I knew were from bushes where they didn’t grow as well as the ones she brought home. Or getting the family cat down from the tree without leaving the ground. Or even getting books from the top shelf that was much too high above our heads.

“But no one else had ever seen it. Until Severus. He saw from behind a bush, and he immediately knew what was going on. His first words were ‘you’re a witch!’ We’d been so mad, until he explained.

“Severus had been learning magic for years under the tutelage of his mother who was also a witch. She wasn’t a powerful witch, but a very intelligent one and her son was both powerful and intelligent. He explained how Lily had been doing magic for years; renewing the flowers to their optimum, summoning the cat and the books, making herself lighter to fly off the swings, and other things that he’d noticed but I hadn’t seen.

“One day when Severus’ father was away, the three of us went over to his home to talk to his mother. She revealed that Lily was highly powerful, and that though I did have magic, it was not enough to have gone to a magical school which is why when I turned eleven there was no letter.

“Lily and Severus got their letters in seventy-one, each on their birthdays but Severus by owl and Lily’s was brought by a professor, Professor McGonagall who taught transfiguration—the magic of changing one thing into another. She explained everything to our parents, looking a bit surprised that we weren’t surprised, until we explained about Severus. She wasn’t horribly happy about that fact but took us to Diagon Alley.

“Lily and Severus went to Hogwarts and were sorted into Gryffindor—the house of the brave—and Slytherin—the house of the ambitious—respectively. The first letters home from both had mentioned a group of boys that had all been sorted to Gryffindor, mentioned later as the Marauders.

“Assumedly, they had a normal school life with ups and downs and differences. In seventh year, we received letters that told us that Lily had gotten together with the Face of the Marauders—James Potter. I will be honest, I didn’t really suspect that it would last, and I was right.

“After graduation, they stayed together for a couple months, but by the end of seventy-eight they’d split up and Lily came to stay with me while I was in my last year of University. It was nice to see her after only letters.

“In September of seventy-nine, Lily got an invitation to the Bonding—which is the Magical version of marriage—of Severus and his fiancés, which was to be held around Christmas time. She got an additional letter asking her a very important question—they wanted her to be their surrogate. We talked for a long time about whether she should or not, before she decided that she would, so as an early wedding present, she agreed and took the Surrogacy potion. She came home with the biggest grin, and excitedly told me about how Severus was working on another potion, one which would allow for male pregnancies. She talked for hours on the theory.

“Harry was born the July after that, a week late. From then it seemed like Lily disappeared. I heard nothing from any of them, until Harry was dropped on the doorstep November first, eighty-one.”

“What are we going to do now, Mum?” Dudley asked, looking into his tea cup as he processed the information she’d left on them.

“I suppose that it’s time we took a trip to the Magical world,” Petunia replied. “So finish your tea, and go get ready to go out.”

“Yes, Aunt Petunia.”

“Yes, Mum.”

The two boys quickly finished their tea before going up to their rooms to get dressed in clothes better suited for going out into public than the clothes they usually wore for chores.

Hartikylus switched out his clothes quickly. Old baggy jeans switched for fitting black jeans with careful rips at the knees. Blue shirt switched for a form fitting gray Henley. White socks for black. He pulled a green beanie out of the upper shelf of his wardrobe, slapping it on his head.

With all that finished, he settled on the edge of the bed with Nyx to send Draco a message. _Ad coniungere_ _Drakonias Lucius Abraxas Malfoy;_ **We’re going to Diagon now, Drake.**

**Alright, I’ll get Mum and Dad to go as well. See you soon.**

**See you soon.**

“Harrison! Dudley! Let’s go, please!” Petunia called up the stairs.

“Coming!!” The boys called back. Hartikylus waited for Nyx to climb up his arm before he got up off the bed and exited the room, nearly running into Dudley who had done the same. They shared a short look before Dudley headed down the stairs first with Hartikylus following after him.

Petunia was standing in the mudroom, her purse hanging across the length of her body and a pair of red slip-on trainers on her feet.

Hartikylus and Dudley went to the boot cupboard and pulled out the shoes they were going to wear—Harry a pair of black high-top converse, and Dudley a white pair of loafers.

“Alright, out we go.” Petunia opened the door and motioned the boys out with a wave of her hand. They exited and then Petunia closed and locked the door before heading over to her car and getting inside where the boys were waiting—Harry in the back and Dudley in the front. She started the car and off they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #  [Personal Tumblr](http://thirteenredvampirebites.tumblr.com) / [Writing Tumblr](http://crimsonswolfden.tumblr.com/) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Nightworldlove) / [My Writing Blog](https://kate-lee-shadows.blogspot.ca/) / Email: thirteenredangels@hotmail.com  
> 
> 
> ***Tumblr may not work. Just a warning.***  
> 

**Author's Note:**

> #  [Personal Tumblr](http://thirteenredvampirebites.tumblr.com) / [Writing Tumblr](http://crimsonswolfden.tumblr.com/) / [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Nightworldlove) / [My Writing Blog](https://kate-lee-shadows.blogspot.ca/) / Email: thirteenredangels@hotmail.com  
> 


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